Noida: Night curfew, cap on guests plague weddings

The night curfew imposed in Delhi on Tuesday, coupled with the Uttar Pradesh government’s guidelines capping the number of guests attending weddings in the state, has come as a blow to Noida. People are either cancelling their booking in banquets and halls for wedding functions, or worrying over which guest to invite and whom to leave out.

Banquet operators said they have been getting calls from their clients to cancel and refund their bookings.

“Three weddings planned in our hall were such where the bride’s side is from Noida but the groom’s side was supposed to come from Delhi. It is nearly impossible for the baraat (wedding procession) to arrive in Noida before 10pm. Many guests have to go back home to Delhi. Because of such issues, two of our bookings have been cancelled,” said the manager of a wedding hall in sector-16’s World Trade Tower.

Pavan Verma, a resident of Green Arch apartments in Noida Extension, has postponed the engagement ceremony of his daughter that was scheduled to take place on April 25.

“As soon as I heard the new guidelines on Monday, I decided to cancel the booking for the ceremony. Thankfully, the banquet hall owner has agreed to refund the token amount paid after a deducting 10%,” said Verma, who had booked a banquet in Greater Noida.

Another banquet hall owner said the restrictions are hurting those who have bigger halls.

“Big banquet halls are operated in a way such that it can accommodate up to 300-400 guests. With the restrictions in place, we will have to increase our prices if only 100 people are allowed because the fixed prices will be same, be it for a gathering of 300 people or 100. Because of this, clients have cancelled bookings with us and moved to smaller banquets where prices are lower,” said Shashank Gupta, who runs Rajdhani party hall in sector-104, adding that smaller banquets will charge much less for a gathering of 100 people.

“Moreover, we have to give in to clients’ requests for refund on booking amount and return the money,” said Gupta.

Making arrangements for stay of Delhi guests

With just a fortnight to go for a host of functions lined up for majority of weddings, most residents in Noida who had functions planned are now finding it embarrassing to ask some of their guest to not come for the ceremony.

“The wedding invites have already been sent. Earlier, we had decided the groom’s side will have 100 guests and the bride’s side will have another 100. However, now we have decided to have 50 guests each from both sides and brainstorming on whom to say sorry to and whom to invite,” said M C Singhal, whose son’s wedding has been planned at a banquet hall in sector 62.

He added the banquet hall owner offered him a solution. “The banquet hall owner said since there is a cap on the number of guests in one hall, he will make a booking for another hall in my name so that I can invite all 200 guests. However, I refused as I do not want to violate any guidelines,” he said.

Those who have guests coming in from Delhi are also in a fix. “We have a ring ceremony planned for April 24 and the wedding is scheduled for the next day. Since a night curfew has been imposed in Delhi, I doubt if our guests will be able to leave the ring ceremony on April 24 before 10pm. In such short notice, I have little option but to arrange for their overnight stay in Noida itself,” said Mina Chaturvedi, whose daughter’s wedding will be held at a banquet hall in sector 71.

Some people are making changes in timing of their functions so that guests coming from Delhi can leave on time. “We have a mehendi function in sector-104 that was earlier supposed to start at 7pm. Now, we have preponed the timing to 5pm so that guests coming from Delhi can leave before 10pm,” said Prakhar Mohan Mathur, a resident of Sector 75.